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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Norway--Molde

After a day at sea heading south from the North Cape, we arrived at the port of Molde. It started out as another glorious weather day. We took advantage of an early start and explored the town area a bit before the crowds began to form for the annual International Jazz Festival held there each year. Attendance is estimated to be around 100,000 swelling the little town and filling its streets with visitors. Added to that was our 1500 or so cruise passengers.

Bob and I grabbed a map from the tourist information center and some quick instructions on how to find the path that leads up to the Varden viewpoint high above the town where we could view the fjord and the snow covered Romsdal Alps.

As we followed the instructions, we stopped along the way to visit the Molde church which is surrounded by rose gardens and right next to the town hall roof area which features thousands of rose bushes in their roof top garden. The city earns its name “The Town of Roses.”

Passing the open air museum, we headed up the trail that would take us to the “breathtaking views.” Little did we realize the breathtaking part would be in the climb. We were only going to go a little way and say we did it but the challenge became an obsession and we continued on huffing and puffing. Thankfully there were lots of benches at just the right spots (after a steep climb) and we rested often. To our amazement, we found people running down the path and even on adventurous mountain biker. How they managed to safely navigate bumpy tree roots, large rocks, and loose gravel areas is a mystery.

Our painstaking climb was rewarded with truly breathtaking views—what little breath we had left. We recuperated in the little restaurant at the top with a sandwich and a freshly made waffle that was spread with homemade strawberry jam and sweet sour cream. Yum!

It took us only 45 minutes to walk back down the mountain—less than half the time up. But we felt like conquerors—at least until we got to bed that night and the pain in our legs kept us up. What is it they say? No pain, no gain. The pain was worth the spectacular viewing of this magnificent area of Norway. Each day is a unique display of God’s glorious hand of creation.